Take a Virtual Travel trip courtesy of Temple Israel

Temple Israel Adult Education is hosting a Virtual Travel Series that continues in January. This is offered to the community by Temple Israel. Places to visit include Jewish Mexico, Jewish Ireland and Jewish Jamaica.

There is no cost to enjoy this series that can be enjoyed from the privacy of your own home. Register at templeisraelevents.com to get the zoom link.

Jan. 30, 2025 — 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

“Jewish Mexico” with Monica Unikel-Fasja

This will be a visual tour to get to know the origins of Jewish life in Mexico at the beginning of the late 19th Century, when immigrants from the Ottoman Empire first, and from Ashkenazi places later, made their new home at this side of the world. We will see many old photos that will take us back to those years gone long ago but that can be reimagined thanks to fascinating testimonies. 

Monica Unikel-Fasja found her passion in the streets of Historic Mexico City, where Jewish immigrants arrived and lived around a century ago. She has dedicated nearly half of her life, since 1994 to walk around those streets, narrating the testimonies and the stories of Jewish immigrants in the form of guided tours. She has also studied and published about the synagogues in Mexico and participated in the revitalization of an abandoned synagogue which today she runs as a cultural center. The cultural center, named Nidje Israel, and now known as Historic Synagogue opened in 2010, and since then it has served as an open space for all sorts of Jewish cultural activities and all kinds of people. She has participated with her husband in his creation of Grupo Sefarad, an ensemble of Judeo-Spanish poetry and music. She has 3 children, 5 grandchildren and no dogs. 

Sun, Feb. 9, 2025, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

“Jewish Ireland” with Alexander Vard

The Irish-Jewish community has been a small but influential part of Irish life for centuries. This lecture will dive into the origins of the community in the medieval period, its growth in the 18th and 19th centuries and how they contributed to the founding of the independent Irish state in 1922. Key figures will be discussed including, Mayor and revolutionary (Member of Parliament for 40 years) Robert Briscoe, Israeli President Chaim Herzog, Holocaust victim Ettie Steinberg and artist Harry Kernoff. 

Alexander Vard is a historian from Dublin, Ireland who currently resides with his wife in the north of Spain. He comes from a once famous family of furriers who moved to Ireland from Poland before World War 1. He successfully ran tours of the former Jewish quarter of Potobello (aka. Little Jerusalem) from 2018-2023 before emigrating due to the high cost of living in the Irish capital. He currently works as a graphic designer and is making a podcast charting the history of the Irish-Jewish community.

March 6, 8:30 p.m. 

“Jewish Jamaica” with Rivka Campbell

From the Inquisition to the Caribbean: Jews of Jamaica

The history of Jews in Jamaica is rich and extensive. The first wave of arrivals were escaping the Inquisition. Among the latest immigrants were European refugees running away from Nazism. Though the community today is but a fraction of its former size, its impact on Jamaica and Jewish history endures. 

Rivka Campbell, a Jew of Jamaican descent born and raised in Toronto, seeks to build community among Jews of Colour in Canada while opening dialogue among the mainstream Jewish community about the experience of Jews of Colour and Jewish Diversity. She is the co-founder of the group Jews of Colour – Canada. Rivka is a recognized speaker on Jewish Diversity and has been interviewed by CJN and other publications numerous times. Rivka is filming a documentary on Jewish Diversity. She is the host of the Canadian Jewish News podcast called “Rivkush”. The only Jew of Colour hosted podcast with a focus on Jews of Colour discussing diversity, Judaism, and Israel. Rivka has lectured at Limmud conferences, synagogues, JCCs, community groups and Hebrew Schools. She is the Executive Director for Beth Tikvah Synagogue and an Executive Committee member of the North American Association of Synagogue Executives.